An inside look at the COMMITTEE making your decision!

Applying to College
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<p>This NPR news segment is very interesting. It records an Amherst College committee meeting and gives an inside look on selective college admissions.</p>

<p>Behind</a> The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR</p>

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<p>Now we know why it sometimes seems like they pulled them out of a hat ;)</p>

<p>Very interesting.</p>

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<p>my god. my god.</p>

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<p>That’s horrifying.</p>

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<p>Need affirmative?..</p>

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<p>Wow…I’m scared.</p>

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<p>I believe they mention that the aps have been reduced by 85% before getting to the full admissions committee, which is where this NPR piece picks up the story (at least for a few partial sound blurbs of deliberation of a couple of applicants). It seems to me this is the LEAST interesting part of the process; where the holistic, arbitrary coin-flips occur; and the part where applicants have little or no control. </p>

<p>Would it not have made a much more interesting, informative news piece for NPR to use their access to have someone from the admissions committee describe, narrate, explain the initial 85% chop?</p>

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<p>This truly terrifies me…especially since I will be applying to schools more competitive than Amherst :(</p>

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<p>Need-blind is one thing, but need-affirmative? Ugh. They even said that one of those kids would have been in the waitlist or reject pile if he hadn’t been low-income.</p>

<p>And they even admit that at the VERY end it gets soo flawed and random…</p>

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<p>really interesting</p>

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<p>Check out this thread for a lively discussion of this piece.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1112758-npr-college-admissions-story-8.html#post12285517[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1112758-npr-college-admissions-story-8.html#post12285517&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I was losing hope, and this took what was left, ripped it up, spat on it, and then handed it back to me like nothing happened. </p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong, i’ve been accepted to some great schools, but this makes me want to boycott the college process all together, (obviously, not going to happen haha) I mean common! I’m telling my siblings to take an Advertising class instead of that extra AP</p>

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<p>massgirl: what is so shocking about “need affirmative”? A kid who gets a 31ACT out of a rough school district, single parent household – but is the Val and works a part time job – is going to stand out more than the tennis and piano playing kid who’s a math/sci whiz in the NJ suburb who takes SAT prep classes since she was in 8th grade. </p>

<p>Why? Because there are 100s if not 1000s of the latter and very few of the former.</p>

<p>And to others who are shocked – having been involved in the process for over 20 years, one fully accepts the randomness given the pool size. But I’m also FULLY confident that viable applicants to my HYP alma mater will be exceedingly successful wherever they attend – just like the vast majority of this year’s Amherst rejected kids.</p>

<p>Don’t be shocked. I’m neither shocked nor do I feel particularly bad for the rejected students. Why? Because I’m confident they’ll be huge assets at whatever college they attend – just like most of you.</p>